Effects of vortex shedding in arrays of long inclined flat plates and ramifications for ground-mounted photovoltaic arrays

Many wind loading codes and standards define flexible structures as slender structures that have a fundamental natural frequency less than 1 Hz. This paper demonstrates that this is not a suitable threshold for small structures like ground-mounted arrays of photovoltaic panels because structures this small can experience both self-excitation and buffeting from upwind panels at frequencies well above this value during both serviceability and design wind events.